It feels like a heat wave here in Louisville as we get up in the 50s for a few days. Things are also warming up in the realm of women's basketball as down to less than three weeks remaining in the regular season.
Louisville moved up a spot to #3 in the AP Poll following an NC State loss to Notre Dame last week. NC State fell to #5. Georgia Tech moved up a spot to #11. Notre Dame moved up two spots to #18. North Carolina rounded out the ACC teams in the Top 25, coming in at #22. Duke and Virginia Tech are both flirting with the rankings and sit in the receiving votes category.
Last night, we saw a battle of two of the top three teams in the ACC with #12 Georgia Tech visiting #5 NC State on the Kay Yow Court for the annual Play 4 Kay game. It only seemed fitting that the Wolfpack get the win, 59-48. GT made a late surge to get to 48 points, they trailed 49-29 after three quarters.
We have Kay Yow to thank for many things including her heavy involvement to pass Title IX, giving women's basketball more respect and spotlight in the public, and the fight against cancer and to commit to cancer research. ESPN2 did an excellent job of covering the halftime ceremony of the NC State vs Georgia Tech game recognizing cancer survivors. Louisville's Play4Kay game will be this Thursday against Virginia. In the past, the different writers and contributors here at Cardinal Couple have made donations to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and I'm sure some of them have joined me in another contribution this year.
For those wishing to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, you can follow this link directly to their homepage- https://kayyow.com/play4kay/about/.
With one loss apiece in conference play, Louisville and NC State continue to battle it out for the ACC regular season title and the 1-seed in the ACC Tournament.
In other news for Louisville, Kianna Smith was named ACC Player of the Week. In the most recent three games, all on the road, the senior averaged 15.0 points per game and shoot 8-18 from three-point range. On top of her solid shooting, Smith logged 21 total assists over that stretch while committing just one turnover.
Smith is second on the team in scoring and three-point shooting while leading the team in assists with 68 on the year.
Hailey Van Lith also received a nice honor yesterday. The sophomore was named to the 2022 Nancy Lieberman Award watch list. She is one of 10 players and one of three in the ACC (Diamond Johnson, NC State and Olivia Miles, Notre Dame) named to the list. The award recognizes the top point guard in women's basketball.
Van Lith leads the Cards in scoring and is fourth on the team in assists and steals.
Volleyball News
Although we knew this news a couple months ago, Louisville Volleyball has officially announced that Raquel Lazaro will be transferring in for her final year of eligibility. Lazaro is the second setter from USC to join the Cards for the 2022 season along with Elle Glock.
Lazaro was the starting setter for USC last season She logged 458 assists while leading the team with 27 aces. While not known for her attack skills, Lazaro did hit .421 last season.
Lazaro will help fill out a talented setter corps that includes another USC transfer Elle Glock and redshirt freshman Paige Morningstar.
Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!
Jared
It's great to be #3 in the AP, but ahead of the two teams that beat us? (NCST and Zona). Don't get that.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Jeff Walz is out riding camels and standing next to pyramids in Egypt. Explain that one to me also.
Nick O
Walz is over there recruiting, and the AP rankings are opinion based and arbitrary.
DeleteBut basically, you lose, you drop, unless you're SC this year. Sign of a program that has national respect is how FAR you drop after a loss.
WKU has a pretty good one from Cairo in Meral Abdelgawad. Maybe Greg Collins gave Walz some leads on others over there.
ReplyDeleteIf you were going to go to Egypt, now would probably be the time, with Virginia coming up. Heck, Scott Satterfield could coach the women to a win over UVA WBB.
Blue Lou
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced today that University of Louisville redshirt senior guard Kianna Smith is one of 10 watch list candidates for the 2022 Ann Meyers-Drysdale Award.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was announced today that University of Louisville women’s basketball senior forward Emily Engstler is one of 20 players named to the Midseason Team for the 2022 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy for Women’s Player of the Year.
I did see both of those honors pop up not too long ago. Both are great honors for Kianna and Emily! I’m sure Paulie will go a little more in depth on those in tomorrow’s article
DeleteA busy cplumn tomorrow with Engstler and Smith Awards discussed plus the preseason softball and lacrosse presser.
Deletepaulie